Musical Notes
Create successful practice, explore a composer's historical lifestyle, learn about modern composers, experience local performances - Musical Notes will enhance your music education and capture your imagination. Be Inspired!
Zephryhills Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their fourth annual Pigz in Z'Hills BBQ & Blues Fest on Saturday, January 18th from 10am-6pm. The event will feature these Blues bands:
Not only can you expect some of the greatest BBQ in Florida, but the event will also have aviation displays, a kidz zone, and a car show. Admission is free, but there is a $10 parking fee. The event will be held at the Zephryhills Municipal airport. For more information, visit the Zephryhills Chamber of Commerce website.
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For those who have not seen The Hobbit part 2: The Desolation of Smaug, you are missing out on a phenomenal experience. You absolutely have to see the barrel scene in theatres in order to get the full effect. Not only are the acting and videography phenomenal, but you will not want to miss the amazing soundtrack. Probably the most memorable song in the whole movie is played at the credits at the end. Ed Sheeran sings "I See Fire."
It is said that perfect pitch or absolute pitch occurs in 1 in 10,000 people. What do people mean when they refer to perfect pitch? Perfect pitch means that someone has the ability to name pitches played on instruments, the ability to name the key signature of a song, and the ability to sing a specific note. Curious to know if you have perfect pitch? Check out this site on perfect pitch. Most musicians have what is called relative pitch. When someone plays by ear, they either have perfect pitch or relative pitch. With relative pitch, a musician can determine the relationship between two notes. Unlike perfect pitch, relative pitch can be honed through practice. With the advent of this cold weather, we thought we would bring the Christmas theme out one more time (before the weather changes). Who was St. Nicholas? Well, not much is known, but he probably served as a bishop in Turkey around the 300s. It is believed that St. Nicholas' wealthy parents died when he was a young boy--leaving the orphan with a lot of money. It is told that he rescued three young girls who were being forced into prostitution by throwing money through a window. From there, the legend began to grow. Children everywhere have come to embrace this larger-than-life character. Even though--for the most part-- the real story of St. Nicholas has been almost completely lost, the theme of giving has become synonymous with Santa Claus. Jessica's Piano Studio is pleased to announce the addition of a voice teacher in the Wesley Chapel area. Edith Ledee-Finnerty served as the assistant to the dean of music of Suny Purchase Conservatoy in NY from 1986-1991. Not only does she bring her educational background, but she also has produced a number of songs and over 600 poems. Since she moved down to Tampa, she has already started a chorus called the Merry Makers. The Laker/Lutz news featured this chorus in a recent publication. All of Edith's voice students are allowed to join one of her chorus groups free of charge. Legos have been an important part of nearly every boy in America over the last 20 years. What is it about these miniature building blocks that draw us in? Creativity! These building blocks empower children (and adults) to create anything imaginable. Recently, one of my nephews built a small scale upright piano next to a Christmas tree out of these amazing blocks.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a miniature functional piano with a moving hand built out of Legos. Take a look at the Youtube video above to see how he did it. As a piano teacher, I know what it's like to teach for a studio and also teach private lessons out of my home. I loved having the studio take care of billing and marketing, but splitting the tuition 50/50 was hard to swallow. About 2 years ago, my husband and I began working on the idea of a music studio that is designed to aid teachers in the billing and marketing without taking a large chunk of the income (we pay our teachers 80%). We are able to do this because we have very little overhead. Not only does the studio not own a building, but new students email and schedule directly with teachers. Not only do we take care of billing for our teachers, but our aggressive marketing helps generate new students for our teachers. In our first year of business, Jessica -- the founder and our first teacher -- went from 0 to over 25 students. In fact, the Tampa Bay Times was so impressed with our model, they recently did an article in the Sunday paper highlighting it. You can read about that on the the Tampa Bay Times website. Our goal is to provide an alternative model for exceptional teachers. A published study done by Thompson, Schellenberg, and Husain in 2004 demonstrate the value of music lessons for decoding emotion in speech. The study consisted of 3 experiments. They found that "music lessons might nurture a basic skill of emotional intelligence by engaging, developing, and refining processes used for perceiving emotions expressed musically, which, in turn, could have consequences for perceiving emotions expressed in speech. In each of the experiments, they found that both children and adults who had some music training were able to distinguish between the emotions of anger, fear, happiness, and sadness--even among those who only had 1 year of lessons. The researchers suggest "that formal training in music enhances listeners' ability to decode emotions conveyed by prosody in speech." Gather these few materials and make some Christmas jingle bell music... Here's what you need: Paper Cups Pipe Cleaners Big Beads Jingle Bells Ribbons Paint Paintbrush Glitter (optional) Scissors What a fun musical Christmas project! Whether your colors are reds, golds, and greens or blues and silvers, paint these crafty little bells to match your holiday decor, and you have new ornaments for your tree. For the full instructions (and step-by-step pictures), visit the First Palette blog post. Your kiddos may even enjoy creating a bell ensemble as they play together and sing Christmas carols... After bringing your new piano piece home, it's easy to try playing it just as fast as you've heard it played on the CD that's provided with your book, or how you heard your teacher play it, but... Slow it down! Until you can play that measure, line or the entire song with few mistakes at a steady (though slow) tempo, don't try speeding it up. Take a Break if you find yourself getting frustrated. Get a glass of water, go walk the dog, or get up and walk around the room. Take your mind off of the music for a little bit and get some light exercise. Then try again! Work on Your Problem Areas. In every song you'll find some parts which are harder than others. Isolate those areas and spend the time you need to learn them well. Make them the easiest parts of the song! Play the Whole Song. Even while you're still isolating your problem spots and perfecting them, take time to play the entire song. |
Jessica's Piano Studio
Jessica B.
Teacher at Jessica's Piano Studio to many talented students! Here's some helpful tips and interesting information to create a wonderfully educational musical experience! Archives
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